The present invention relates to a control device for easier identification of an illuminated alarm that warns the operator of some abnormal condition in a copying machine.
Conventionally, copying machines are provided with a variety of additional functions and devices such as variable ratio copying, automatic document feeding, and sorting. These copying machines are provided with a number of display devices on the operation panel for indicating the operative conditions and modes of the copying machine. Display devices include indicators warning the operator of a shortage of copying paper, lack of toner, jammed papers, full toner collecting container full receiving tray, etc. Nevertheless, in many cases, these conventional copying machines cannot allow the operator to easily and quickly indentify the illuminated alarm display, because a variety of other displays (a paper counter, paper-size indicator, etc.) also remain illuminated even when a specific alarm display lamp lights up to warn the operator of some malfunction in the copying machine. As a result, if the operator starts the copying operation with automatic document feeding and is unaware of a paper shortage, and then leaves the machine, the machine remains inactive without performing the designated copying operation, thus resulting in wasted time.